


A Fresh Start

by theramblinrose



Category: The Walking Dead (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe, F/M, cyreese
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-11-30
Updated: 2020-11-30
Packaged: 2021-03-10 04:29:10
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,269
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27798514
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/theramblinrose/pseuds/theramblinrose
Summary: Cyreese, AU.  Oneshot.  This meant a fresh start for their little family.
Relationships: Carol Peletier/Tyreese Williams
Comments: 4
Kudos: 3





	A Fresh Start

AN: This was a requested oneshot. 

I own nothing from the Walking Dead. 

I hope you enjoy! Let me know what you think! 

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The dumpster outside was an expensive rental, but it was one of the best investments that Tyreese thought he’d made in a while. 

It was hard work cleaning out so many years of bad memories and so many items imbibed with negative energy, but it was a necessary activity to give them the best possible chance at a fresh start.

Tyreese and Carol were newlyweds. The band on Tyreese’s finger had only been there a couple of weeks, and he could barely say that he was getting used to the feel of it so that it no longer felt foreign or surprised him when he caught a glimpse of it while reaching for something.

They were not barely-adults married too young, though, and they weren’t starry-eyed dreamers who knew nothing of the difficulties of marriage and expected an easy ride through life together. They weren’t strangers to each other, either.

They had each been married before. Tyreese had lost his wife, Elizabeth, after a thankfully short battle with cancer—though losing her had been painful, Tyreese was at least happy that her suffering had been short-lived. Carol had divorced her husband, Ed, after the abuse had become unbearable and severe enough that even the authorities who had functioned for years like ostriches with their heads in the sand could no longer ignore her pleas for help.

Carol had been determined to make it on her own, raising her young daughter by herself, to avoid ever falling into the trap of any man ever again, and Tyreese had sworn that he would never love another woman so that he couldn’t be hurt by her loss.

Like something out of an unbelievable fairy tale, though, Tyreese had fallen in love with Carol almost the first time he’d seen her. A mutual friend, Michonne, had recommended Tyreese’s handyman services to Carol. Carol had called him to ask about making some repairs around her house. He’d gladly come, ready to offer her a first-time customer’s special price to cover up the fact that he felt practically called to help a single mother who was battling to overcome everything she’d been through—everything the town knew that she’d been through.

Through weeks of making small repairs here and there around the house—repairs that needed to be made thanks to Ed’s neglect and, in some cases, his anger—Tyreese had come to know Carol. He’d come to know, as well, the shy little girl that she was raising—Sophia. 

He’d come to love both of them. And, thankfully, Carol had only protested once when he’d asked her to dinner before she’d agreed to eat with him. After all, he’d promised her that he only wanted her company for a meal—and then for another. Tyreese was sure that Michonne’s support of their relationship hadn’t hurt too badly, either, when it came to convincing Carol to give him a chance. 

Tyreese courted Carol for six months before he ever tasted her lips, but every moment of patience had been worth that first amazing kiss.

He’d courted her for another six months before he’d married her and, so that she never felt rushed or questioned his intentions, he’d saved their first time together for their wedding night. Despite the fact that she’d been married before, she’d come to him like a blushing virgin and he’d had to admit, at least to himself, that he’d felt much the same. Still, it had been a memorable night, in more ways than one, and it had marked the beginning of a new life for both of them.

Tyreese’s house was larger than Carol’s, and it was more recently updated. It had a fenced in back yard for the puppy they planned to adopt for Sophia for Christmas. It was comfortable, and Carol’s touches over the year had only made it more comfortable. It felt like home and, most importantly, Ed Peletier had never crossed its threshold or put his hands on Carol in any way inside its walls.

Tyreese had, of course, told Carol that she could keep any and every item she wanted from her old life, but he’d also offered to help her clean out and do away with anything that she didn’t want. The house that she and Ed had once lived in would be sold. 

The house was practically haunted. Tyreese could feel the negative energy when he entered it. He was happy that neither Carol nor Sophia would ever have to live there again. Just getting them out of the house and into his home—a place where Carol could be who she was without fear, and where Sophia could play, and laugh, and sleep without worry of what might happen to her mother—had made both Carol and Sophia into much lighter and happier people.

Sophia hadn’t wanted to come back to the house. When they’d made the first move, the very same day that Carol and Tyreese were married, she’d brought with her the items she wanted to keep from her room. The rest of it, according to her, wasn’t important. 

A week before, they’d had an open-house rummage sale. Everything was priced to move, and some things were tagged as “free.” People came through the house taking even the pictures off the walls. Anything they wanted; they took. Now it was time to deal with everything they hadn’t wanted and everything that had been packed away in the attic where nobody could reach it.

Like Sophia, Carol wanted very few things that reminded her of her life with Ed. So, while she sorted through her past and decided what she wanted to keep and what she preferred to exorcise, Tyreese carried things out to the large dumpster that they’d rented and threw away what Ed had left behind.

He thought he could almost see Carol growing younger and lighter with each load he carried out.

“I was thinking of running to the store to pick up stuff and making us some sandwiches,” Tyreese said as he entered the attic again. “Do you have anything else you want me to take down first?” 

He walked across the almost empty attic space to where Carol was sitting on the floor sorting through some boxes. Immediately, he recognized the items around her and the ones she was going through. He knelt down, one hand on her shoulder, beside her. He reached a hand around her and touched one of the items in the small box on her lap.

“A bracelet?” He asked, fingering the hospital bracelet that had been clipped with a pair of scissors. 

Carol smiled to herself.

“When I had Sophia,” she said. “I wanted to keep it.”

Tyreese touched a few more items in the box, looking through them. 

“Why aren’t these in an album?” He asked, finding two sonogram pictures and a few random polaroids of Carol obviously doing her best to take pictures that would document her pregnancy. All of them appeared to have been taken in her bathroom mirror. 

“Ed really wasn’t happy about the pregnancy,” Carol said. “It was one thing after another, really. I think he resented, too, that the doctors expected to see me sometimes, and that really limited how much…”

She broke off and Tyreese patted her shoulder. 

“How big of an asshole he could be,” Tyreese supplied. Carol hummed and nodded.

“I didn’t get the care I should have, probably,” Carol admitted. 

“But Sophia was healthy,” Tyreese said.

“Sophia was perfect,” Carol said. “I brought her home in this. It was too big for her. She barely weighed five pounds. Look how tiny she was!” 

Tyreese took the little outfit that was tenderly offered to him and held it in his hands. If Sophia had been too small for the outfit, she would have barely been the size of what he would have considered a small doll. She would have fit comfortably in his cupped hands. He couldn’t help but smile to himself.

“She’s certainly grown now,” he said. “And—I’d say she’s still pretty close to perfect.” 

Carol smiled at him, clearly happy with his compliment. He could see a little dampness in her eyes, but it didn’t worry him. He leaned toward her and she kissed him hungrily and passionately. 

“I love you,” she whispered as soon as their lips broke apart.

“Not nearly as much as I love you,” Tyreese assured her. She smiled at the playful challenge. Tyreese looked around the attic that was quickly emptying as they worked. “Where are the rest of Sophia’s baby things?” 

“This is it,” Carol said. “It’s all that’s left. Ed made me sell everything that was even remotely valuable just as soon as I could. And—he destroyed a few other things. I hid these things away, up here, where he couldn’t find them.” 

Tyreese squeezed her shoulder affectionately and stood up.

“Then let’s be sure to put that somewhere safe. Maybe I could—build you a shadow box to display it at home.”

“Oh—Ty!” Carol practically cooed. “I would love that.” 

Tyreese smiled to himself. His chest flooded with emotion. He loved the way she made him feel—so strong and wonderful. So powerful and good. So appreciated and adored. Her love for him, and her appreciation for even the smallest things made him anxious to simply give her more and more—without ever stopping.

“I’ll start on it tonight,” Tyreese assured her. “I’m going to get some stuff to make those sandwiches, so you can come on down as soon as you’re ready. Did you have anything else that you wanted me to take down?” 

“That box by the door can go,” Carol said.

“Trash or keep?” 

“Trash. The longer I’m up here, the more I’m realizing that…there’s really very little that I want to keep.”

“Then we’ll get rid of it,” Tyreese assured her. “You can have a fresh start, Carol. You don’t have to keep anything that you don’t want. I only want you to have what you want. I want you to have everything you want.”

He picked up the box and started back down the stairs.

“Ty?” Carol called, getting his attention. He came back into the attic. She was on her feet now with the small box of her treasures under her arm. 

“Something wrong?” Tyreese asked, not sure that he liked the concerned expression on her face.

“I was thinking, and…you can say ‘no,’ of course because, maybe it’s just too much to ask…”

“What’s wrong, Carol?” Tyreese asked, crossing the attic to get closer to her.

“It’s just that—you’re so wonderful to me and Sophia, and…I’ve told you before that I had so many dreams of how things could be. How they should be…but…and…you make everything so wonderful, but I’m not sure if I really do anything for you or if…maybe it wouldn’t…” 

Tyreese swallowed back the nervous laughter that rose up within him. He reached over and touched her face. He let his fingers come to rest gently over her soft lips. Sometimes, the only way to bring her out of her mind—and far away from the damage that Ed had left behind, because that was something that, unfortunately, Tyreese couldn’t just haul out to the dumpster like he could everything else—was to simply still her.

Tyreese shushed her quietly. He saw her shoulders relax. She smiled softly against his fingertips and her blue eyes held his. He let her settle into her calm and, perhaps, to absorb a little of his.

“Just tell me what’s on your mind,” Tyreese said. “And—we’ll handle it together. That’s all there is to it. You don’t have to explain yourself. OK?” 

Carol nodded and Tyreese moved his fingers. She smiled and her cheeks ran pink.

“I want another baby, Ty,” she said, this time practically spitting out the words like she feared them getting stuck again.

Tyreese felt immediately struck by the words, and then he felt himself practically melting under them. His insides shook slightly, and then he simply felt warm and happy. In the short amount of time that he took to process everything, though, Carol had already grown concerned.

“I understand if it’s too much,” she said.

Tyreese laughed to himself.

“You want to have another baby?” He asked. She nodded. “With me?” 

Now it was Carol’s turn to laugh.

“With who else, Ty?” She asked, teasing him. “I know you’d be a—a wonderful Daddy. You already are to Sophia.” 

“You want us to have—a baby together,” Tyreese said. 

Carol laughed, this time nervously.

“If you don’t want…” she started, but Tyreese never let her finish. He dropped the box he was carrying, not caring if anything in it broke when it hit the floor. He pulled her to him—box of treasures and all—and kissed her hard, wrapping her in his arms. 

“Carol—there’s nothing I want more in the world than to grow our family together,” he assured her when he broke the kiss. She smiled at him sincerely. It was, perhaps, the biggest smile she’d given him since he’d married her or, maybe, since he’d told her that he intended to adopt Sophia. “In fact—I’d say we better get started on it tonight,” he added with a wink.

“Since Sophia’s at Michonne’s for the day,” Carol mused, “let’s go home for lunch and we can get started right away.”


End file.
